Kickin' It Old School

I don't understand music these days, especially pop music. I know I'm not the only one that thinks this. It seems like pop music generally has the same vibe no matter who the artist is. It's the same rhythm, the same tempo, the same messages, nothing much is different. There are basically five types of pop singers:

the chill instrumentalist

the misunderstood rebel

the hot vixen/chiseled and/or dreamy-eyed heartthrob

the TV teen star(s)-turned singer(s)

the foreign import (which I don't mind as much as the rest)

It's not that I don't like the music. It's the monotony I don't like. That especially goes for rap music today. I don't want to hear about who you want to beat up or which chick you want to "pop bottles" with all the time. It's like these artists sample from the same people's or each other's music. Every time I hear a new rap song, I always say to myself, "I swear I heard that beat on someone else's single." I guess because of the monotony I've learned to like different genres of music.

Not even I understand how I like so many types of music! Some of the genres a lot of my friends don't know much about like Neo-Soul, underground hip-hop, & electronic. I learned to like jazz because of my grandmother, Neo-Soul because of my dad, underground hip-hop because of Neo-Soul, electronic and trance because of my friend Philip, alternative because of my friend Paul, 80's music because of my mom, and everything else from the radio. There are some songs on the radio that I rarely hear anymore, which is another rule about pop music. The genre of pop comes from the word "popular," so if the majority has moved on, the radio must as well. Unfortunately, in an effort to please everyone, pop music stations end up pleasing no one. Fortunately, that's why there are many other radio stations to listen to, so at least I'm not imprisoned by the monotony!

I miss a lot of songs. I remember when Aaliyah was popular, and she was for good reason, too. She was a good singer, and her songs were good to listen to for all R&B lovers. I miss Boyz II Men's music. They could harmonize well on every song they sang, and they were awesome singing a Capella. It's a shame only adults appreciate their music now. Oh man, Blackstreet was good, too. The music was nice, and the words actually meant something. I am a big fan of New Jack Swing by the way. I used to be in band in middle and high school, so that added to my musical tastes significantly. I learned to appreciate the music itself: the chords, melodies, tempos, everything about it. From this stemmed my loves for jazz, electronic, classical, and alternative. It basically enhanced the love I already had for music.

Music was good back in the day. It actually meant something...